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The Cat Returns
| director = Joel Schumacher | producer = Jerry Bruckheimer Michael Browning | screenplay = Jason Richman Michael Browning Linda Woolverton Philip LaZebnik Screenplay Translation: Reiko Yoshida | story = Gary M. Goodman David Himmelstein | based on = The Cat Returns by Aoi Hiiragi Francis Ford Coppola Eleanor Coppola | starring = Chizuru Ikewaki Yoshihiko Hakamada Tetsu Watanabe Yosuke Saito Aki Maeda Tetsurō Tamba | music = Michael Kamen | cinematography = Kentaro Takahashi | editing = Megumi Uchida | studio = Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer United Artists American Zoetrope Studio Ghibli Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films Capitol Films Stillking Productions Myriad Pictures | distributor = MGM Distribution Co. (United States) 20th Century Fox (International) Toho (Japan) | released = | runtime = 75 minutes | country = Japan | language = Japanese | budget = $20 million | gross = $54 million }} is a 2002 Japanese animated fantasy film directed by Joel Schumacher, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Browning with the executive producers Francis Ford Coppola of American Zoetrope (who previously directed on the films Apocalypse Now, The Outsiders and Bram Stoker's Dracula), Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli and Kirk D'Amico, story by Jason Richman and Michael Browning with screenplay by Gary M. Goodman, David Himmelstein, Linda Woolverton and Philip LaZebnik along with the screenplay translation by Reiko Yoshida, based on The Cat Returns by Aoi Hiiragi, Francis Ford Coppola and Eleanor Coppola, music by Michael Kamen, and stars Chizuru Ikewaki, Yoshihiko Hakamada, Tetsu Watanabe, Yosuke Saito, Aki Maeda and Tetsurō Tamba. A spin-off of Whisper of the Heart, it was theatrically released in Japan on July 20, 2002 through Toho and in United States and International on August 16, 2002 through Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and 20th Century Fox. It received an Excellence Prize at the 2002 Japan Media Arts Festival. GKIDS, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment and United Artists Releasing will re-issue the movie on Blu-ray & DVD under a new deal with Studio Ghibli and American Zoetrope. Plot Haru Yoshioka is a quiet and shy high school student who has a suppressed ability to talk with cats. One day, she saves a cat from being hit by a truck on a busy road. The cat she saved turns out to be Lune, Prince of the Cat Kingdom. As a thanks, the cats give Haru gifts of catnip and mice, and she is offered the Prince's hand in marriage. Her mixed reply is taken as a yes. Wanting none of this, Haru hears a kind, female voice, which tells her to seek Muta, a large white cat and to seek directions for the cat business office from him. Muta leads her there to meet Baron (the same Baron from Whisper of the Heart), who is a cat figurine given life by the work of his artist, and Toto, a stone raven who comes to life much like the Baron. Soon after meeting them, Haru and Muta are forcefully taken to the Cat Kingdom, leaving Toto and the Baron in the human world to follow the group from the air. The Baron and his crow friend find the entrance to the Cat Kingdom on Earth: Five lakes forming a cat's paw. Haru is treated to a feast at the castle of the Cat Kingdom and she begins to slowly turn into a cat with tan paws, ears, nose, tail, whiskers, and for a second she gets fangs, though still mainly human, so that she will make a suitable bride for the Prince. At the feast, Baron (in disguise) dances with Haru as part of the entertainment, and reveals to her that the more she loses herself in the kingdom, the more cat-like she will become, and that she has to discover her true self. When Baron is discovered and is forced to fight the guards, he and Haru are helped by Yuki, a white female cat who works as a servant in the palace and who had tried to warn Haru to leave the Cat Kingdom before she was taken to the castle. After Yuki shows them an escape tunnel, Haru, the Baron, and Muta move through a maze to a tower, which contains a portal to Haru's world. The King goes through a series of efforts to keep them in the Cat Kingdom long enough for Haru to remain trapped in the form of a cat and have her as his daughter-in-law. Lune and his guards return to the Cat Kingdom to reveal the King was not acting on his behalf and that he has no desire to marry Haru; he has instead planned on proposing to Yuki. Muta is revealed to be a notorious criminal in the Kingdom (having devoured a whole lake of fish in one session), and Yuki as being the strange voice who had advised Haru to go to the Cat Bureau. In her childhood, Haru had saved Yuki from starvation by giving her the fish crackers she was eating, and Yuki has now repaid her kindness. Muta, or as he is known as the infamous criminal Renaldo Moon, tells Haru "I respect a woman who stands up for herself" after she rejects the King's marriage proposal outrightly and proceeds to help her escape from the King's soldiers. Eventually Baron, Haru and Muta escape the realm of cats, with the aid of Prince Lune and Toto, and Haru discovers her true self and tells Baron how she has come to like him. He tells her the doors of the Cat Bureau will be open for her again. Haru returns to the human world with more confidence in herself; after learning from her friend that her former crush has broken up with his girlfriend, she simply replies "it doesn't matter anymore." Cast Origin In 1995, American Zoetrope and Studio Ghibli released a film entitled Whisper of the Heart, based on a manga by Aoi Hiiragi, Francis Ford Coppola and Eleanor Coppola, of a girl writing a fantasy novel. Although the girl's life had no magical elements, the film featured short fantasy scenes depicting what the girl was writing of the Baron, a character of her novel, which were so popular that an indirect sequel was made, featuring the Baron and another girl, a high school student, named Haru. Muta also returned. The Cat Returns began as the "Cat Project" in 1999. American Zoetrope and Studio Ghibli received a request from a Japanese theme park to create a 20-minute short starring cats. Hayao Miyazaki and Francis Ford Coppola wanted three key elements to feature in the short — these were the Baron, Muta (Moon) and a mysterious antique shop. Hiiragi was commissioned to create the manga equivalent of the short, which is called Baron: The Cat Returns (lit. Baron: The Cat Baron) and is published in English by Viz Media, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and United Artists. The theme park later canceled the project. Coppola and Miyazaki then took the existing work done by the "Cat Project" and used it as testing for future Zoetrope and Ghibli directors — the short was now to be 45 minutes long. Responsibility was given to Joel Schumacher, who had directed the films Falling Down, Batman Forever and Tigerland. Over a nine-month period he translated Aoi Hiiragi, Francis Ford Coppola and Eleanor Coppola's Baron story into 525 pages of storyboards for what was to be The Cat Returns. Francis Ford Coppola, Hayao Miyazaki, Kirk D'Amico, Jerry Bruckheimer and Michale Browning decided to produce a feature-length film based entirely on Schumacher's storyboard; this was partly because Haru, the main character, had a "believable feel to her". It became the second theatrical (third overall) American Zoetrope and Studio Ghibli feature to be directed by someone other than Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, Hayao Miyazaki or Isao Takahata. Manga }} Baron: The Cat Returns is a 2002 Japanese adventure fantasy manga written by Aoi Hiiragi, Francis Ford Coppola and Eleanor Coppola and published by Tokuma Shoten, American Zoetrope, Viz Media, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and United Artists. Release Box office The film was the highest-grossing domestic film at the Japanese box office in 2002 and the 7th highest-grossing film of the year overall. As of January 5, 2015, it is the 86th highest-grossing film in Japan, with ¥6.46 billion. Critical reception According to Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 90% among 20 critics, with an average rating of 6.9/10. Michael Booth of The Denver Post noted that "Director Morita has a slightly cruder, more realistic sense of the world and its looniness than does Miyazaki, and you can see where The Cat Returns moves on a different track even as it pays homage to Japan's current animation master. " References Further reading Anime * * * * * * * * Manga * * * * External links * at Studio Ghibli * at MGM Studios * * * * [http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/2002/dz002300.htm The Cat Returns] at the Japanese Movie Database * Category:2002 anime films Category:2000s adventure films Category:2000s drama films Category:2000s fantasy films Category:Adventure anime and manga Category:Animated adventure films Category:Animated coming-of-age films Category:Animated drama films Category:Animated films about cats Category:Animated films based on manga Category:Anime spin-offs Category:Children's animated films Category:Children's drama films Category:Children's fantasy films Category:Directorial debut films Category:Drama anime and manga Category:Fantasy anime and manga Category:Fictional gentleman detectives Category:Film spin-offs Category:Films featuring anthropomorphic characters Category:Japanese films Category:Japanese drama films Category:Japanese animated fantasy films Category:Studio Ghibli animated films Category:StudioCanal films Category:Toho animated films Category:Viz Media manga Category:Films set in Japan Category:Films about cats Category:American Zoetrope films Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animated films Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Category:United Artists films Category:United Artists animated films Category:20th Century Fox films Category:20th Century Fox animated films Category:Films directed by Joel Schumacher Category:Films produced by Jerry Bruckheimer Category:Films produced by Francis Ford Coppola Category:Films with screenplays by Linda Woolverton Category:Films with screenplays by Philip LaZebnik Category:Film scores by Michael Kamen Category:Film scores by Blake Neely Category:Film scores by Kenneth Burgomaster Category:Film scores by Nick Glennie-Smith Category:Film scores by Matthew Margeson Category:Film scores by Fiachra Trench Category:Film scores by Eric Clapton Category:Film scores by John Van Tongeren